Immigration May Cease To Be A Wedge Issue, Predicts Progressive Analyst

While immigration has been a hot button issue among the American electorate for decades, the shifting demographic in the U.S., particularly with regards to race and age, may dampen the issue’s ability to draw voters to the polls.

“The demographic ground has shifted out from under the conservatives, particularly on... cultural issues,” said Ruy Teixeira, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, during a panel discussion Tuesday.

Teixeira explained that voting blocs whom typically take a hard-line approach to immigration, such as white working-class voters, are diminishing. Meanwhile, segments of society who hold a more lenient attitude toward immigration are growing more prominent.

“There’s been an increase in white college graduate voters who are much more progressive than white, working class voters,” Teixeira said. “Among minority voters, who are much more progressive in general, there has been an 11%...increase in representation [since 1988].”

Teixeira added that the growing number of secular Americans, whom Teixeira claims are generally left-leaning, will also tilt the demographic.

“By the year 2040 only about...a third of the population will be white Christians and only about a third of that will be conservative,” Teixeira predicted. “The front line troops in the culture wars have been conservative white Christians. We’re looking down a road where they’ll only be 12-13% of the population.”

Democrat Shuler Attempts To SAVE "Broken" Immigration System

By Mariko Lamb - Talk Radio News Service

Representative Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) reintroduced the SAVE Act, a bipartisan immigration bill that would increase border security, provide law enforcement with the tools to better ensure that immigration policy is followed, increase the number of immigration judges and utilize E-Verify, a system designed to ensure employee eligibility.

Shuler said that although multiple parts of the U.S. immigration system are broken, “this is the initial step to make sure that this broken system is fixed.”

“With high unemployment, half a million people losing their jobs every day, we have to ensure that Americans and legal immigrants get those jobs, not those who are breaking the law,” he said.

Senator David Vitter (R-La.), one of the 74 bipartisan co-sponsors of the bill, said that the SAVE Act is a “common sense immigration approach” that “is supported by a broad consensus of the American people.”

“The American people get it. They know that illegal immigration is a serious problem, and they know that the way to fix it is enforcement at the borders, enforcement at the workplace, and not having an amnesty program,” Vitter said.

IPC: Immigrants Not The Source of Unemployment

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

Recent immigration is not leading to a rise in unemployment of natives in the United States. Such was the conclusion of two reports issued today by the Immigration Policy Center.

The current unemployment rate in April 2009 was 8.9%.

IPC demographer Rob Paral, demographer and Principal of Rob Paral & Associates, said:“There is this talk, allegation, discussion that somehow immigration is a cause of unemployment...(but) there is no direct link between the level off immigration in an area and its unemployment rate.”

The issue has become central in Congress’ scramble for tools to reduce unemployment in the midst of the economic crisis. Understanding the sources of unemployment would provide a better understanding of the strategy to use in order to address this issue.

Paral said: “We understand why it is a concern because we are at historically high levels of unemployment in the U.S and we are also a nation that receives a substantial numbers of immigrants, so people are wondering if there is some kind of connect.”

In order to conduct this study, Paral said, “Let’s look across the United States, at areas of high and low unemployment and let see if there’s any correlation between them and if whether there is a lot or little of recent immigrants in the region.”

Both Paral and Siciliano defined “recent immigrants” as those having moved to the U.S “in the past ten years.”

Paral said that “You have almost identical levels if unemployment in the Pacific states right now in the US as you do in the Midwest (10% unemployment) and yet the Pacific states have a much higher level of recent immigration amongst their workers and among their population as you do in the Midwest.”

Paral thus concluded that “What we are trying to show is that there s this total disconnect with whether you have high unemployment and low immigration.”

Siciliano added that “When you look at the kinds of workers that the immigrants are compared to the unemployed natives, you’re looking at two very different kinds of people in terms of skills and where they live etc...,” suggesting that immigrants are not in fact taking away jobs from the natives.

White House Update

White House Update
Thursday, April 23

The President’s meeting today with 13 executives from the credit card industry underscores one of the administration’s most vexing dilemmas: trying to stabilize the banks while getting the struggling U.S. economy back on its feet.

Here’s the dilemma: the White House acknowledges that a sound banking system is one of the bedrocks of the American economy. To be sound, banks have to have, and are shoring up, their capital position. But at the same time, they’re being asked to step up lending.

Obama told the executives today that the interest rates and fees they charge are “unfair” and says they need to be more “consumer friendly.” The banking industry’s response – although they didn’t say this to the President’s face today – has been along these lines: “We HAVE been consumer friendly; TOO consumer friendly. We flooded the market with cheap credit for much of this decade and now a lot of customers can’t pay it back.”

The President himself knows all too well about credit card debt. At the White House news briefing this afternoon, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that up until recently – obviously before the multi-million dollar book sales – Obama himself was in the red.

But the high levels of credit delinquency, personal bankruptcies, auto repossessions and, of course, mortgage foreclosures, appear to support the banks’ point. No question, millions of Americans are hurting – but for people with a proven inability to pay, who are already up to their necks in debt, is more debt the answer?

In short, that is the banking industry’s position – and the President’s dilemma.


WITHER IRAN?

Another dilemma for the West Wing - surprise, surprise: the Middle East. During talks Tuesday with Jordan’s King Abdullah, the President said he wants to see Israel, the Palestinians and neighboring Arab countries – like Jordan – to step efforts to forge some kind of peace agreement. The White House envoy to the region, former Senate Majority Leader and architect of the Northern Ireland peace agreement, George Mitchell, says he is cautiously hopeful.

To nudge things along, Obama will invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to the White House for talks in the next few weeks. But not all at once.

But Obama’s priorities are not Israel’s. Netanyahu said earlier this week that he will not participate in talks until the President makes headway on Israel’s number one issue: stopping Iran’s nuclear program. To drive that point home this morning, the President was told by Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor to confront Iran “before it’s too late.”

Meridor made the comments at a Holocaust memorial service on Capitol Hill. Also speaking: a top official of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Joel Geiderman, who was even more blunt, reminding Obama about Iran’s pledge to destroy Israel. He warned the President to ignore that threat at America’s “own peril.”

The White House also faces a dilemma with the Palestinians. Abbas’ Fatah faction has seen its power eroding, to the benefit of the Islamist militant group Hamas. Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, but the administration has so far maintained the Bush policy of refusing to deal with – branding it a terrorist group.


TORTURE LATEST

At the briefing, Gibbs appeared to distance himself from comments made this morning by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said he supported the release of sensitive memos on detainee interrogation methods. Gates said he viewed the disclosure as inevitable.

Gibbs’ response: "I have not seen Secretary Gates's full remarks." Gibbs inferred that a lot of people have different opinions on the subject. He added "The problem...isn't the existence of a paragraph or a term in a memo…It is the very existence of their use."

FIRST 100 DAYS (94 and counting)

Conflicting editorials in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.

The Post’s David Broder says Obama has gotten off to a good start: The "President has shown - and it is important - a mastery of the art of managing the presidency." He lauds Obama’s He lauds his “good organizational and management skills” and says in sum, “A bravura performance on Obama's part."

The Journal’s Daniel Henniger counters, focusing on the president’s grip-and grin with Venezualan President Hugo Chavez as symbolic of White House weakness. He writes: "The weirdly ebullient Mr. Obama did not...show reserve." He adds: "The Obama people seem to believe that talking top guy to top guy is the yellow brick road to progress" and that "There appears to be no coherent strategy beyond "talk to our enemies."

WEST WING NOTES

…the President will hold a prime-time news conference next Wednesday at 8pm, EDT; it is the 100th day of his presidency.

…it was “Take Your Daughters to Work Day” at the White House, but Malia and Sasha Obama didn’t make the 60-secnd commute to the Oval Office with Dad. First Lady Michelle Obama did speak to 160 kids – of administration, household and Secret Service employees. Mrs. Obama said: She doesn’t miss cooking, the new dog, Bo, is “crazy” and says one of the best parts about being First Lady is that she gets to do a lot of “fun stuff.”

White House Update

Immigration Redux
Immigration is regarded as a “second-tier” issue in the West Wing (education, health care and energy being the administration’s top priorities), but the president still wants a “comprehensive solution” to the problem and a bill to be crafted this Fall. The centerpiece of any legislation would be putting the estimated 12 million illegals in the U.S. on the path to eventual citizenship. But Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters this afternoon that illegals would be put in “the back of the line” and made to wait. Gibbs also suggested that they learn English. The White House also warned that it wants to step up the crackdown on employers who flaunt the law by hiring illegals. If all of this sounds familiar, it is: President George W. Bush tried, and failed, to pass comprehensive immigration legislation in 2007. Analysts warn with the economy in rough shape, the task of passing a sweeping immigration bill may prove to be infinitely more daunting.

War Funding Flip Flop?
The President is also asking for an additional $83.4 billion for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama opposed such funding two years ago when he was in the Senate. The request would finance the additional 17,000 troops for the Afghan theater bringing the number of American servicemen and women there to 55,000, a 59% increase. Meantime: the Congressional Research Service says the funding request would push the costs of both wars to nearly $1 trillion since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Housing Confab
President Obama claims that his administration’s policies (along with actions by the Federal Reserve) have lowered mortgage rates to historic lows, giving millions of Americans the opportunity to refinance their homes. Critics say the rates are artificially low, but the administration says it will do whatever is necessary to get the housing industry moving again. Meeting in the Roosevelt Room with the president was Treasury Secretary Geithner, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Donovan – and homeowners from the Washington DC area who seemed pretty nervous in their high-powered surroundings. Reporters asked about the Somali pirate situation and were rebuffed by the president: “Guys, we’re talking about housing now…”

Quick Hits
…Did the President bow when meeting Saudi King Abdullah at last week’s G20 summit? “No,” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. “He bent over to shake his hand…”
…Next Thursday (Apr. 23) the White House sponsors “Bring Your Child to Work Day.” Will Malia and Sasha accompany Dad on his 60-second commute to the Oval?
…The East Wing has released the White House Easter egg design. They have an environmental theme…
…First Lady Michelle Obama was seen puttering around in the new White House garden this afternoon. With her: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a White House chef and students from Bancroft Elementary. They planted seeds – 55 kinds of fruits and vegetables, except for beets. The President doesn’t like beets…